HP 303 Preservation Internship

Policy Statement and Guidelines

The Historic Preservation Internship is a three-credit course intended for graduate students in the UVM Historic Preservation Program who elect not to write a thesis. Students must do preservation work, ideally as an employee, with an appropriate institution, organization, or agency. Duties of the student intern are arranged in advance with the host employer by agreement with the course instructor and the student.

Work is to be done under the direct supervision of a qualified individual designated by the employer. Students must be in regular direct contact with the supervisor (in person, by phone, or by e-mail). Ideally such regular contacts will be on a daily basis during the work weeks, but depending on the work assignment this direct contact with the supervisor must be made at a minimum of once per week while working as an intern.

It is the responsibility of each student to be hired as an intern. To facilitate the search process (which ideally should commence by January for the upcoming summer) internship opportunities will be posted in Wheeler House or forwarded by email to enrolled historic preservation graduate students. Listings for many potential preservation internship are included at the UVM Historic Preservation Program Job Board or at PreserveNet. The course instructor will also be available to advise students on strategies for searching for suitable internships.

· All students must submit an internship proposal agreement (see below) for review and approval to the instructor responsible for the course before starting the internship. This proposal agreement must be first negotiated, reviewed, and signed by the internship work supervisor. Students should identify the organization(s) with which they will be working, the name and address of the work supervisor, the planned work activities and responsibilities, the amount of work time that will be expected, and an assessment of the academic benefits of the internship and the specific learning goals. Students should also include their summer mailing address, telephone number, and email contact information. If plans or addresses change after this submittal, students should submit an updated internship proposal agreement for review as soon as possible.

· Students are strongly encouraged to obtain paid internships with a single organization.

· Unpaid internships will be acceptable only if there is a very strong educational or training component provided by the organization.

· Internship duties should relate directly to the development of a professional career in historic preservation.

· Work with the organization should be full-time for at least 8 weeks or equivalent. The full-time hours should follow the policy of the organization or agency and be at least 30 hours per week.

· Internships with more than one organization may be acceptable if the total time commitment, direct supervision, and learning potential is comparable to the expectations listed above. Each component must have a work supervisor who will oversee the work and provide a written evaluation.

· Internship presentations for all students will be scheduled for the fall semester, typically in October. The presentations should run about ten minutes. They should be well organized and produced to reflect skills at communicating with the public as a professional preservationist. Students should provide a summary of accomplishments and discuss what they learned. Digital slide illustrations are expected to support the presentation with good quality images, maps, and titles. The presentations will be evaluated on the clarity, organization and professionalism of the presentation as well as on the quality of the slide images taken by the students. It will be each student's responsibility to keep to the time schedule. They also should plan on about five minutes of questions and discussion following the talk. Faculty, students, professional preservationists, and special guests may be invited to this public event. Students are also encouraged to invite family, friends, colleagues, and their internship sponsors and supervisors to their presentations.

· Students must submit a short (50 words or less) biographical statement to the course instructor that identifies the internship organization and location by September 30. This information will be included in the program for the internship presentations.

· A written evaluation by the internship work supervisor is required by September 30. This should include an evaluation of performance. This letter of evaluation should be sent by post or by email directly to the course instructor: Thomas Visser, Director, Historic Preservation Program, Wheeler House, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, email: thomas.visser@uvm.edu.

· Each student is required to submit a professional report that summarizes the internship by September 30. This bound report should identify the organization and discuss the responsibilities, the amount of time worked, accomplishments, and preservation issues addressed. It should also show how the internship contributed to professional development in the preservation field. The criteria for evaluating these written reports will include the clarity, organization, and scholarly content of the report and the quality of the writing and illustrations.

· Internships are evaluated through student internship reports, written evaluations from the students' work supervisors, and by students making formal presentations of their completed internship projects.

· Grades for the HP 303 internship are satisfactory or unsatisfactory. A satisfactory grade is required to obtain credit for this course. All internship work and course submittals must be completed by the last day of classes of the semester for which the student registers for the HP 303.

Updated 3/31/13

UVM Historic Preservation Program

Internship Proposal Agreement

Student name:

Email address:

Current address and phone number:

Summer address and phone number:

Name, address and phone number of the organization(s) with which you will be an intern:

Internship supervisor's name, title, address, and e-mail address:

Will you be an employee of the organization while serving as an intern?